With the visits of high-ranking military and defense officials from the United States and China in the past two weeks, the dispute over the Spratly islands in the South China Sea has heated up again.
Prior to the arrival of Chinese Defense Minister Liang Gaunglie, there were reports that two Chinese naval boats shadowed a Philippine exploration ship around the disputed area, and that Philippine Air Force planes were buzzed by two Chinese jets over the region. While Liang was in the country for talks with President Aquino, the Philippine Star came up with photos of new Chinese military garrisons in some of the disputed islands while News5 reported on Vietnamese structures built on other islands in the disputed area.
While the Philippines formally protested the first incident before the United Nations, the government was nonchalant on the other reports. Aquino said the government would investigate the reported buzzing incident while downplaying the report on new Chinese military garrisons, saying that they have been there for years.
Aquino conveniently overlooked the fact that the Chinese government had initially claimed that the structures on Mischief Reef were built by Chinese fishermen as rest areas a few years ago, and later said that they were actually weather stations. The Chinese have obviously been lying about the military garrisons, and Aquino would rather not confront the Chinese defense minister over the structures during their talks.
The Aquino administration cannot continue to close its eyes to China’s recent aggressive behavior in the disputed islands without weakening the country’s claims over the Spratlys. While we concede that the country does not have the capability to defend its claim militarily, it must, however, continue to assert its valid claim by filing formal diplomatic protests over such disturbing incidents.
More importantly, the Philippine government must come up with a long-term strategy and policy vis-à-vis its claim over the island group.
The Spratlys are being claimed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. The area consists of 26 islands and islets and seven groups of huge rocks in the South China Sea. The disputed islands have a maritime area of 160,000 square kilometers and land area totaling 170 hectares.
Among the six claimants, the Philippines was the first to officially make its claim. As early as 1933, a Philippine senator protested after the French annexed the Spratlys. During World War II, Japan occupied the islands for military reasons. After Japan relinquished its claim after its surrender, the Philippines claimed the territories in 1946.
In 1956, Filipino navigator Tomas Cloma claimed ownership and occupation of the Spratlys by issuing a “proclamation to the world.” In 1957, in reply to Cloma’s letters demanding that the Philippine government settle the question of ownership of the islands, then Vice President and Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Garcia assured Cloma that the government “does not regard with indifference the economic exploitation and settlement of these uninhabited and unoccupied islands by Philippine nationals,” but stopped short of officially claiming the islands.
In 1978, President Marcos issued a proclamation declaring ownership of some islands in the Spratlys group. President Ramos reaffirmed the proclamation in 1995. The Philippines now occupies eight of the islands.
In February 2008, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo entered into a so-called “Spratly Deal” with Beijing, which according to former Speaker Jose de Venecia was done in exchange for loans attended by bribery and corruption. Malaya publisher and columnist Jake Macasaet said he was told by a source that under the “Spratly Deal,” China would be allowed to explore territorial waters of the Philippines.
In the same month, Far Eastern Economic Review’s Barry Wain accused Arroyo of selling out to China the Philippine and regional interests in the South China Sea. Wain argued that Arroyo violated a 2002 regional agreement that called on Asean member-states to deal with China as a bloc on the six-country Spratly Islands dispute.
Wain said that during Arroyo’s state visit to China in 2004, the two countries signed the “Agreement for Seismic Undertaking for Certain Areas in the South China Sea By and Between China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Philippine National Oil Company” which, Wain said, angered Vietnam. Surprisingly, the Philippines allowed the eight islands the country occupied in the agreement.
We do hope that President Aquino would not follow the lead of his predecessor in selling out Philippine sovereignty over the disputed islands in exchange for economic and other favors.
China is obviously eyeing the islands to gain control of the important South China Sea shipping lanes, the rich fishing grounds, and the vast oil deposits estimated at 18 billion tons underneath the disputed territory.
The US, on the other hand, is not about to give up its military domination in the region to China as shown by the American military’s show of force in August. During the period, the US conducted joint military and naval exercises with South Korea and Vietnam, the latter a most unlikely but now willing ally. That month, China staged its own military exercise with North Korea.
The conflict between the Americans and the Chinese in the region is expected to escalate in the coming years as the world’s second biggest economy prepares to become a military power, too. The Americans, on the other hand, need to reestablish their domination over Southeast Asia, which is fast becoming a very important focal point in both world economy and politics.
In this brewing conflict, the Philippines is certain to be caught in the middle. Among the six claimants, the Philippines is nearest to the islands; in fact, the southernmost tip of Palawan is just 136 miles off Mischief Reef, where the Chinese have built a military installation. And although officially the US has no bases in the Philippines, it can use either the Mutual Defense Treaty or the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to launch any counter-attack against the Chinese from the country.
The US has assured the Philippines that it would come to its defense in the event of an armed conflict with China over the Spratly Islands. The US position was reaffirmed by US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. during a speech delivered on board the USS Carl Vinson, which visited Manila after playing an important role in the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In his remarks, Thomas said: “Now and in the future, we will maintain our strong relationship, and we are dedicated to being your partner whenever you are in harm’s way… this is a commitment born of our shared histories and close ties, and we are proud to stand by your side.”
The dispute over the Spratlys will eventually come to a head, hopefully not militarily. International intervention would not resolve the crisscrossing claims. Only a fair and enforceable agreement among the claimants could possibly resolve the long-standing dispute. The government has to decide now where the Philippines stands on this, and aggressively work for such resolution before the conflict turns into an ugly military confrontation.
Likewise, the conflict between the US and China over military domination in Southeast Asia will eventually come to a head. It is important that the Philippine government knows where its position would be when these two events present themselves.
